Cover Image

The cover image is based on the Research Article Pre‐thermal treatment in binary solvent systems promoting β crystalline phase of electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofibers by Praewpanit Nuamcharoen et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/pi.6008 .

     

Seven-year temporal variation of Caesium-137 discharge inventory from the port of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant: continuous monthly estimation of Caesium-137 discharge in the period from April 2011 to June 2018

ABSTRACT

After direct discharges of highly contaminated water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1 F) from April to May 2011, Kanda suggested that relatively small amounts of run-off of radionuclides from the 1 F port into the Fukushima coastal region subsequently continued by his estimation method. However, the estimation period was limited to up to September 2012. Therefore, this paper estimatesthe discharge inventory up to June 2018. In the missing period, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings have continued efforts to stop the discharge, and consequently, the radionuclide concentration in seawater inside the 1 F port has gradually diminished. We show the monthly discharge inventory of ¹³⁷Cs up to June 2018 by two methods, i.e., Kanda method partially improved by the authors and a more sophisticated method using Voronoi tessellation reflecting the increase in the number of monitoring points inside the 1 F port. The results show that the former always yields overestimated results compared with the latter, but the ratio of the former to the latter is less than one order of magnitude. Using these results, we evaluate the impact of the discharge inventory from the 1 F port into the coastal area and radiation dose upon fish ingestion.     

Purification and cDNA cloning of HeLa cell p54nrb, a nuclear protein with two RNA recognition motifs and extensive homology to human splicing factor PSF and Drosophila NONA/BJ6

While searching for a human homolog of the S.cerevisiae splicing factor PRP18, we found a polypeptide that reacted strongly with antibodies against PRP18. We purified this polypeptide from HeLa cells using a Western blot assay, and named it p54nrb (for nuclear RNA-binding protein, 54 kDa). cDNAs encoding p54nrb were cloned with probes derived from partial sequence of the purified protein. These cDNAs have identical coding sequences but differ as a result of alternative splicing in the 5' untranslated region. The cDNAs encode a 471 aa polypeptide that contains two RNA recognition motifs (RRMs). Human p54nrb has no homology to yeast PRP18, except for a common epitope, but is instead 71% identical to human splicing factor PSF within a 320 aa region that includes both RRMs. In addition, both p54nrb and PSF are rich in Pro and Gln residues outside the main homology region. The Drosophila puff-specific protein BJ6, one of three products encoded by the alternatively spliced no-on-transient A gene (nonA), which is required for normal vision and courtship song, is 42% identical to p54nrb in the same 320 aa region. The striking homology between p54nrb, PSF, and NONA/BJ6 defines a novel phylogenetically conserved protein segment, termed DBHS domain (for Drosophila behavior, human splicing), which may be involved in regulating diverse pathways at the level of pre-mRNA splicing.     

Water quality and pollution control

This paper charts the decline in the quality of Japan's water resources from about 1955, and the increasingly energetic measures taken to reverse the trend. The standards set by the Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control are described, and their impact to date is assessed. With respect to human health protection the measures taken have been almost wholly successful, but serious problems of environmental pollution remain, especially in lakes and reservoirs. The main countermeasures against water pollution ‐ effluent control, sewerage and night soil treatment facilities, control of pollutants, steps to arrest eutrophication and prevent groundwater contamination ‐ are described. Finally, the special measures adopted and proposed for lakes and reservoirs are outlined.     

High-Speed CMI Optical Intraoffice Transmission System: Design and Performance

This paper presents the design and performance features of a successfully developed optical intraoffice transmission system operating at 100-400 Mbits/s. The keys to the commercial realization of this simple, highly reliable, and low-cost system are the employment of the 1.3 μm LED and graded-index multimode fiber. Additionally important, the system makes use of coded mark inversion (CMI) coding to ensure bit sequence independence (BSI) and good error-monitoring capability. Experimental results have clarified the optimum bandwidth of the low-pass filter at the receiver end and the commercially attainable transmission distance. Furthermore, an available system gain of 15.4 dB is demonstrated through 400 Mbit/s transmission experiments. This value enables transmission over distances in excess of 4 km through multimode fiber (900 MHzcdotpkm, 0.8 dB/km).     

Bose-Einstein Condensation and Superfluidity of Strongly Correlated Bose Fluid in a Random Potential

No Heading It was recently observed that liquid ⁴He confined in porous glass lost its superfluidity at high pressures and very low temperatures, causing the quantum phase transition by the strong correlation. Motivated by this experiment, we study the behavior of a strongly correlated Bose fluid in a disordered environment, such as the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and superfluid critical temperatures, by using a model of 3-dimensional Bose fluid in a random potential. For the perturbation of the repulsive interaction between particles, we introduced two-loop renormalized self energy by the self-consistent calculation, which is effective near the BEC critical temperature. Calculating the second order perturbation with respect to the random potential, we found that the BEC disappears at high densities, which is qualitatively consistent with the experimental results.PACS numbers: 67.40 –w, 05.30 Jp, 64.60 Cn     

Basic principles and characteristics of hybrid excitation synchronous machine

Permanent magnet type synchronous machines have been widely used for industrial applications. It is commonly known that they are operated at high efficiency since no excitation input is required. However, it is difficult to control the air-gap magnetic flux, because the magnetic flux is determined by the property of the permanent magnet and approximately kept constant. On the other hand, synchronous machines with the field winding make it easy to control the air-gap magnetic flux. But the copper loss of the field winding becomes large at the rated load. In order to realize the magnetic flux control easily and improve the performance of the conventional synchronous machine, we propose a hybrid excitation type synchronous machine (HSY) with the permanent magnets and the field winding. Advantages of HSY are (1) it has no brushes (maintenance free), (2) required excitation input is small (high efficiency), (3) it is easy to get a sufficient magnetic flux control, and others. Therefore, HSY has a great possibility of use for various applications. In this paper, basic principles and characteristics of HSY are mainly discussed and made clear.     

Development of 500-kV XLPE cables and accessories for long-distanceunderground transmission lines. V. Long-term performance for 500-kV XLPEcables and joints

500-kV XLPE-insulated cable with an insulation thickness of 27 mm and its joint have been developed for long distance transmission lines. First, in the basic research made from 1989 to 1992, elicited were the performance-determining factors of XLPE cables and joints. Their respective insulation designs were made in terms of these factors. On the basis of these designs, full-sized cables and joints were manufactured in the course of the development research performed from 1992 to 1993. The next step was to evaluate the initial electrical performance to estimate the suitability of our designs. As the final step of our series of researches so far carried out, a long-term loading cycle test was carried out by means of a model line with joints as installed and using the same techniques as employed in the actual commercial lines for full eight months. We could thus verify the long-term reliability for commercial use. The authors discuss EMI, performance dominating effects and quality control, and initial and long term electrical performance testing     

DC dielectric characteristics and conception of insulation designfor DC GIS

In order to discuss the dielectric performance of DC GIS, the flashover characteristics of gas-insulated bus were studied under conical- and disk-type spacers. The test involves the investigation on effect of electrification for charge to be accumulated in spacers and the effect of metallic particles. As the result, it was found that the dielectric characteristics of conical-type spacer are better than disk type. Moreover, the dielectric performance of DC GIS is more affected by the characteristics of coaxial electrode system than spacer surface with regard to metallic particle. On the basis of the results of these tests, this report presents the conception of insulation design for DC GIS     

Top-down design of a VLSI digital filter bank

This paper relates theoretical investigations in digital signal processing (DSP) to the design of a VLSI digital filter bank (DFB). Emphasis is on a top-down approach to identify multilevel parallelisms inherent in a generic DSP algorithm and a new VLSI architecture. System level control and communication requirements are examined. Finite word length effects on filter accuracy are identified. The complexity of filter modules is reduced by partitioning large filter functions into a sum of smaller subfunctions. A memory intensive architecture minimizes design time. Up to 100 DRF modules are configured in parallel to perform signal processing up to 20 MHz. This VLSI DFB out performs sequential von Neumann architectures by several orders of magnitude using the same level of VLSI technology.